Michael Jordan has overcome a lot of hurdles in his life even before entering the NBA. Coming from a middle-class family, Jordan faced many rejections earlier on in his life. He even got cut from his high school basketball team as he didn’t hit his growth spurt until his senior year in high school.

In a resurfaced mid-game interview from 1991, James Jordan swells with pride as he talks about his son’s incredible achievements on and off the court.

When Michael Jordan’s father praised his son’s journey

In a regular season game between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons(their rivals back in the day), James Jordan was interviewed mid-game. The interviewer asked him, “Well James, Michael has told you this their year, hasn’t he?”. James Jordan replies, “Well you know, Michael says that they’ve gotten so close this year and they’re not sure if they’re going to get this close again so they’d like to go all the way.”.

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The interview further asks him, “For all the parents out there, is there one moment when you thought that Michael is going to be a great of a player he is?”. James Jordan replies, “No there’s no way you can tell. You know, I always thought Michael would play baseball. Of course, he had that year when he grew so much and it’s just been a joy watching him develop into the player that I could see today.”. The interviewer adds, “I hope we can watch him all the way through the playoffs.”.

Jordan Sr. then says, “I hope so. If he does, I’ll be right there. I’ll be his number one fan always still.” In another interview, James Jordan gives more details as to why he never predicted Michael Jordan to be such a great basketball player.

Michael Jordan’s ‘poor state’

In an excerpt from ‘Michael Jordan-The Life’ book, James Jordan criticizes the Chicago Bulls legend’s lazy attitude growing up. He mentioned that the 6x NBA champions always managed to remain broke.

James Jordan stated that Michael Jordan had a major procrastination problem and would give all of his money to others(brothers, sisters, or kids from the neighborhood) in order to complete his work/chores. Who knew that a “lazy kid” would grow up to build a multi-billion dollar empire? 

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Michael Jordan’s father was very proud of everything Michael achieved when he was alive. We can be sure that Jordan Sr.’s heart would’ve been filled with even more love and admiration for his son, had he been alive today. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!